Musical tone generating apparatus

ABSTRACT

A continuously rotating striker assembly intermittently engages a selected one of a plurality of tone bars mounted on elastically deformable portions of a platform, to produce musical tones. The deformable portions of the platform are deflected in response to displacement of keys from rest positions by variable amounts to control the intensity of the musical tones produced upon contact of the tone bars by floating striker elements of the striker assembly.

United States Patent Shubeck MUSICAL TONE GENERATIN APPARATUS Primary Examiner-Lawrence R. Franklin [76] Inventor: John V. Shubeck, 34 Montgomery Attorney Agent or Firm Harvcy Jacobson; Har- St., Bloomfield, NJ. 07003 lambs [22] Filed: Jan. 2, 1973 pp 320,119 57 ABSTRACT 52 us. Cl. 84/404 A continuously rotating Striker assembly intermittently [51 lm. Cl. Gl0d 13/08 engages a Selected one of a plurality of tone bars [58] Field of Search 84/404, 405, 407 mmlmed elastically deformable Portions of a platform, to produce musical tones. The deformable por- [56] References Cited tions of the platform are deflected in response to dis- UNITED STATES PATENTS placement of keys from rest positions by variable amounts to control the intensity of the musical tones 3,545,329 12/1970 Roehrlg 84/452 P X produced upon Contact of the tone bars by floating 4 84/404 striker elements of the striker assembly. 1 FOREIGN PATENTS APPLICATIONS 4 Claimsj Drawing Figures 567,657 4/1933 Germany 84/404 70 64 L I 1 I2 74 72 36 I PATENTED APR 2 1974 SHEET 1 BF 2 PAIENIEDAPR 21974 3,800,652

SHEET 2 or 2 Fig. 2

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MUSICAL TONE GENERATING APPARATUS This invention relates in general to toy musical instruments and more particularly to instruments of the type in which musical tones are produced by the striking of selected tone bars. a

Toy pianos employing a motor driven striker assembly engageable with selected tone bars of different pitch to produce musical tones, are well known, as disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 2,873,639 to Musser. The tone bars in such prior art instruments are mounted directly on pivoted keys for displacement through a fixed stroke. In other prior art arrangements employing motor driven strikers, the tone bars are mounted on fixed supports and the strikers undergo movement through a fixed stroke to contact the tone bars for producing musical tones..The quality and characteristics of themusical tones produced by such prior art instruments has accordingly been set by the construction of the instrument and could not be controlled or varied by the player. It is therefore an important obect of the present invention to provide a musical instrument of the foregoing type wherein the sound intensity and frequency of the musical tones may be controlled by the player in addition to selection of pitch so as to enable playing of the instrument with a greater degree of artistic expression.

In accordance with the present invention, a toy musical instrument having an outer housing preferably made of plastic in the shape of a grand piano, encloses a support platform for tone bar'sand a keyboard. The platform is made of an elastically deformable material and is slotted to form flexible mounting tongue portions at one level for the tone bars. The keyboard portion of the platform extends out of the housing underlyinga plurality of pivoted keys having inner portions engaging the flexible-mounting tongues. The keys are manually depressed to upwardly deflect the mounting tongues so as to displace tone bars into the paths of striker elements floatingly carried on arms that are continuously rotated about a fixed axis by a variable speed motor. Selected tone bars are accordingly displaced by corresponding keys into thepath of the striker assembly to obtain a musical tone of a desired pitch. The motor speed may be manually regulated by a rheostat to vary the sound'frequency of the tones and the amount by which the keys are depressed will control the intensity of the sounds produced These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafterdescribed and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to likeparts throughout.

FIG. .1 is a perspective view of a toy piano constructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial top sectionalview taken substantially through a plane indicated by section line 2-2 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a partial side section view taken substantially through a plane indicated by section line 3-3 in FIG. 2. I

FIG. 4 is a partial front section view taken substantially through a plane indicated by section line 4--4 in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a side section view similar to FIG. 3 showing the key fully depressed.

FIG. 6 is a side section view similar to FIG. 3 showing a modified form of toy piano with two levels of tone bars for an extended keyboard.

FIG. 7 is a partial front section view taken substantially through a plane indicated by section line 7-7 in FIG. 6.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, FIG. 1 illustrates a typical musical instrument constructed in accordance with the present invention in the form of a toy replica of a grand piano generally referred to by reference numeral 10. The toy piano has an outer housing 12 preferably made of plastic with a slotted top 14 from which musical tones are emitted in response to depression of selected keys 16 forming part of a keyboard assembly 18. On one side of the housing,- a frequency control knob 20 is provided.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the control knob 20 is connected to a conventional rheostat device 22 within the housing 12 that is wired in a manner well known to those skilled in the art to a variable speed motor 24. The motor is drivingly connected by an endless belt drive 26, to a power shaft 28 that is continuously driven by the motor about a fixed axis established by support bearing standards 30 for the shaft that extend upwardly from a support platform 32. The support platform is made of an elastically deformable material and extends forwardly through an opening 34in the front wall 36 of the housing underlying the keyboard keys 16 as more clearly seen in FIG. 3.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3 in particular, the platform 32 is formed with parallel slots 38 that are interconnected adjacent to the front wall of the housing to define a plurality of deflectable support tongues 40 longitudinally aligned with corresponding keys 16. A hinge assembly 42 including a pivot shaft 44 is internally mounted on the front wall of the housing to pivotally support the keys 16 above the platform 32. Each key 16 includes an intermediate hinge portion 46 through which the pivot shaft extends perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the key and corresponding support tongue 40. A finger portion 48 of the key'extends outwardly from the housing above the planar support surface of the platform 32 while an inner portion 50 of the key extends inwardly from the intermediate portion underlying a forward end portion of its associated support tongue. The key 16 is accordingly biased by the support tongue 40 to its rest position as shown in FIG. 3 and may be actuated by the player to any desired extent toward a fully depressed position as shown in FIG.

port tongue 40 carries a tone bar 52. The tone bars are i made of a suitable yibrant material and are of progressively increasing length from one end of the keyboard to the other so as to produce musical tones of different pitch when struck. Each tone bar is mounted by a pair of resilient, anti-damping elements 54 seated in a cup formation 56 projecting from each support tongue 40 adjacent its forward end rearwardly of the underlying key portion 50 and a formation 58 projecting from the support platform 32 on the side of power shaft 28 opposite formation 56. Mounting pins 60 extend upwardly from each tongue 40 and platform 32 through the resilient elements 54 and openings in the tone bars and are provided with retaining caps 62 to hold the tone bars in assembled positions for limited vibration when momentarily struck.

The tone bars 52 are displaced upwardly with their support tongues by the keys 16 for'momentary engagement by a striker assembly 64 at a frequency dependent on the rotational speed of power shaft 28. The striker assembly includes a plurality of arms 66 secured to power shaft 28 and axially spaced from each other by sleeves 68. Each arm 66 overlies an associated tone bar and carries a pair of striker elements 70 adjacent its radially outer ends. Each striker element is floatingly mounted on an arm 66 by means of a pin 72 extending from the arm through a slot 74. The striker elements 70 may accordingly be radially displaced by a limited amount relative to the arms on which they are carried. The amount by which the striker elements are radially displaceable corresponds tov the maximum amount by which the tone-bars are upwardly displaced by actuation of the keys to a fully depressed position as shown in FIG. 5. Thus, depression of a selected key by a predetermined amount will not only produce a musical tone of a selected pitch, but will also control the intensity of the sound produced. The musical tone is, of course, produced when thetone bar moves into the path of travel of the striker element and is struckby the striker element at a frequency selected through the motor speed controlling knob 20. When a striker elemusical tone.

In the. foregoing description, a relatively short keyboard 18 is shown in FIG. 1 with ten keys 16. A longer keyboard model having seventeen keys, for example, may beconstructed in accordance with the present invention in which tone bars 76 and,78 are mounted at two different levels as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. The upper level tone bars 78 are accordingly mounted on upper levelsupport tongues 80 vertically spaced above the lower level support tongues in staggered relation thereto for displacement by vertical extensions 82 on associated keys 16'. The upper level tone bars 78, support tongues 80 and keys 16 cooperate with each other as do the corresponding lower level parts as hereinbefore described with respect to FIGS. l-5. The striker assembly 64 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 is provided The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact constructionand operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A musical instrument comprising:

a supporting platform made of an elastically deformable material forming a stationary planar surface of said housing, said platform including a slotted portion defining a plurality of elastically deformable tongues;

driving means mounted in saidhousing;

. a plurality of means for producing a series of musical tones, each of said tone producing means comprisakey pivotally mounted on said housing, said key being biased to its rest position by the free end of one of said tongues;

v a rotatable striker continuously driven by said driving ns; j

and a tone bar mounted on said one of said tongues such that said tone bar'is displaced against said bias into contact with said rotatable striker, said contact producing a tone of an intensity proportional to the depression of said key.- v

2. A musical instrument as in claim 1 wherein said driving means includes control means for driving said rotatable strikers at selectively variable speeds.

3. A musical instrument as in claim 1 wherein said rotatable strikers each include an arm rotatable about a fixed axis, and a striker element floatingly carried by said arm.

4. A musical instrument as in claim 1 wherein each of said tone producing means further includes an additional elastically deformable tongue secured 'to the platform in vertically spaced relation to the first mentioned elastically deformable tongue, a' second key biwith both shorter and longer striker arms 84 and 86 respectively dimensioned to cooperate with the upper and lower level tone bars in a manner as hereinbefore described. Also, the upper surfaces on the finger pori so ased to its rest position by said additional tongue, a second tone bar mounted on said additional tongue, and said rotatable striker further including a second arm radially shorter than the first mentioned arm and a second striker element floatingly carried by said second arm. 

1. A musical instrument comprising: a housing; a supporting platform made of an elastically deformable material forming a stationary planar surface of said housing, said platform including a slotted portion defining a plurality of elastically deformable tongues; driving means mounted in said housing; a plurality of means for producing a series of musical tones, each of said tone producing means comprising; a key pivotally mounted on said housing, said key being biased to its rest position by the free end of one of said tongues; a rotatable striker continuously driven by said driving means; and a tone bar mounted on said one of said tongues such that said tone bar is displaced against said bias into contact with said rotatable striker, said contact producing a tone of an intensity proportional to the depression of said key.
 2. A musical instrument as in claim 1 wherein said driving means includes control means for driving said rotatable strikers at selectively variable speeds.
 3. A musical instrument as in claim 1 wherein said rotatable strikers each include an arm rotatable about a fixed axis, and a striker element floatingly carried by said arm.
 4. A musical instrument as in claim 1 wherein each of said tone producing means further includes an additiOnal elastically deformable tongue secured to the platform in vertically spaced relation to the first mentioned elastically deformable tongue, a second key biased to its rest position by said additional tongue, a second tone bar mounted on said additional tongue, and said rotatable striker further including a second arm radially shorter than the first mentioned arm and a second striker element floatingly carried by said second arm. 